When does marketing become spam?

At the end of the day, people are going to hate no matter what you do. People gripe about commercials on tv.. yet if it weren't for those commercials, there'd be no tv.

People complain about youtube ads, but those ads are what fund youtube and make it possible.

So I stopped worrying about what people think a long time ago..

But with that being said there is definitely a line between advertising and spam..

For forums - are you following the forums rules? Make sure to read what their guidelines are.
Just because they haven't banned you *yet*, doesn't mean that they aren't going to.

Also, are you posting up your advertisement in the right section? Many forums have a classified / buy sell ad section.. If so, make sure you are posting it in the right spot.. Just like on WF, you can post advertisements in the right section.

Next, If you want to advertise/promote on the forum.. your best option is to contact the forum admin and see if they have any advertising opportunites.. Maybe they can run a banner for you there, or do a sponsored post? that way you have the forum's blessing and approval.

Otherwise, does the forum allow you to do signatures? If so, that's always a good option to promote your offer. Write great content and get active on the forum.. and just use the signature as a mean's to get traffic.

The idea behind forums is to have conversations and get involved. So if you are not active in the community, do not have approval from the mod, and are just pasting promotional stuff into the forum.. yes, that IS spam and is not worth it.

Not sure what you're posting on the music forums. Most forums are very strict about advertising, so if you're not careful someone may report you and you'll be banned.

Your better off by posting meaningful content and info that help people on forums, over time people will see you as a credible source and may visit the site in your signature or PM you.

Most forums display banner ads or have certain sections just for advertising. So ignoring the rules and doing "marketing" in the regular discussion areas is going to piss a lot of people off.

You might only be "marketing" but if you're breaking the rules of the forum then your only spamming. It's not your site so you have to follow their rules. Just my opinion.

As soon as your prospects no longer want to see your promotional messages, then it becomes spam.

Hard to say, was it in an ads section or just the general forum?

Forum marketing works but probably not in the way you described it.

Thought I'd chime in here since you mentioned forums where musicians go.

Here's the deal, sometimes it really doesn't matter what your opinion is on whether you think that your "marketing" is not spam.

When you said this:

The casual tone of this statement sounds very innocent and all from your end, but it pretty much explained to me why forum members may not appreciate your "marketing".

Because it's not.

Listen,

my companies email address is known to tons of Spa... I mean marketers in the music niche, including music companies and record labels, etc.

These peeps feel the need to let us know many times a day about every new release they have, and to add to it, they attach "mp3's" and huge images, and all other type of goodies to their emails.

Mind you, we are not subscribed to these creative music marketers, (whom if asked, would probably say that there is nothing wrong with their form of marketing) and we have never requested that info either.

But as you know, in this bizz, it is what it is, and Musicians market their stuff to music companies.

Either way, it's still unsolicited, and some would refer to that as spam.
Just as in the past, musicians would blindly mail me unsolicited demos,
and for many legal reasons, we would not listen to them.

Today, if you are marketing a music service or any other service,
the term "forum marketing" does not mean, pasting an ad into a forum without significant involvement in the forum otherwise.

Communities don't like that sort of thing.

As much as I have been a member here since 2007, if I walked in one day and just pasted ads in threads and left, I'd probably hear about it from the members and the moderators.

Maybe it's time to rethink your marketing. You could speak to the forum owners, and see if you can joint venture with them somehow. Maybe offer your service to them for free in exchange for a mention to their members, etc..

Be creative...

(no, what you're currently doing is not creative).

quick definition - my stuff is marketing. Everybody else is spam. Sorted!

''And I only copy and pasted a simple advert there to market my service. I wasn't banned from the forums, but other users seemed to turn on me.''

There's an answer to your question. Being a musician or an artist in general usually evolves around being creative and your copy/paste advert surely isn't working in your favor here.

Spam is unsolicited email. Spam is also a canned pork product. Nothing else is spam.

Charlie

Go try that on MMORPG forums and find out what "hate" really is!

Marketing becomes spam when someone can't opt out, nor stop receiving messages from you.

You'll see a lot of people talking about promoting stuff on forums. That is a canned answer I grow tired of reading. An IM forum or online services forum (graphic artist, web develop, programming, etc.), or some type of professional/business forum, then sure.

But, for the other 99% of the forums out there, advertising (that is what you were doing, not marketing - your marketing was the DECISION to ADVERTISE to people on that forum as you assume them to be in your target demographic) is generally NOT tolerated.

Plenty of forums where things are sold by members, including services, (as an example, one member makes custom bumpers on a 4x4 truck forum and people know, talk about it, posts pics of Joe's Kickass Bumpers they just bought from him, and he gets orders via PM etc.), but that is a bit different than what you did.

Advertising space costs money, and unless you are a TRUSTED member of said forum, other forum members will not be prone to buy from you.

And they'll tell you to stop spamming the forum. They being the actual users who have no financial stake in the forum - they simply do NOT want to be advertised to by people who are using 'their' forum as their own personal (and free) advertising billboard. They are there to 'hang-out' with 'friends' - not be advertised to.

I've been on forums for a long time. I always laugh when I see people regurgitate the 'forum promotion' angle for your stuff.

Works great if you are in the IM niche, but for the rest of the world, people are NOT hanging out on forums to have people like you advertise to them, nor is that the reason that forum exists - for you to just show up and USE for FREE as your own personal advertising billboard.

Maybe the Great $20 Video Heist was a bit of Karmic expression for trying to get more than $20 of advertising space for free (many forums SELL ad space, not give it away for free) and thinking you deserve it, or that it is owed to you, or that it should be tolerated by communities you seem to be (from your words) new to ...